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 enlarge | Author: Buzz Bissinger
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $5.52
You Save: $29.43 (84%)
New (20) Used (9) from $5.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 635741
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 5.8 x 4.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1565119762
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3570977866
EAN: 9781565119765
ASIN: 1565119762
Publication Date: April 7, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Baseball thru the Manager's eyes June 18, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This superb narrative shows us baseball from the eyes of the manager. Specifically, readers come to know the mind and strategies of skipper Tony La Russa. The backdrop is a key three-game series as La Russa's St. Louis Cardinals host their rival Chicago Cubs in August of 2003. We see La Russa`s thinking as he contemplates his lineup, pinch hitters, pitching changes, etc., not to mention his overall views of baseball strategy. Readers come to understand the ceaseless pressure that skippers face, one that can take an emotional toll. The author also looks at several players, their personalities, egos, and determination - including a moving remembrance of pitcher Darryl Kile who died tragically (from a heart attack) a year earlier. The pages intersperse action with flashbacks and anecdotes, and the result is similar to NINE INNINGS, Daniel Okrent's superb narration of a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles in 1982.
Author Hal Bissinger spent time with La Russa to write this superbly readable narrative, one that should be enjoyed by fans, coaches, and students of the game. Readers might also consider FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, the author's superb critique of high school football in Texas.
Amazing look into one of America's greatest pasttimes May 19, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
If you are a baseball fan you will love this book.
As baseball is said to be the great American pasttime, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of the great original teams.
3 Nights in August is an inside look at the Cardinals' up and down season in 2003, disecting what would prove to be one of the pivotal matchups of the pennant race between the Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.
The dramatic story had me rivited to the book the futher I got into it. Like a fast car that starts out slow, the story slowly builds into an epilogue that is impossible to resist. Bissinger explained a whole side of the game of baseball that I had never considered even in my over one-hundred games of attendance. Hey, as long as the beer is cold and a team is playing right? His explanations of strategy were thrilling. The stories about stealing bases, signs, explanation of fielding techniques were priceless.
Bissinger also delves into the mind of Tony Larussa. Although LaRussa is mediocre as far as post-season goes compared to other Cardinal coaches, he is one of the older breed who really use psychology in the game rather than relying primarily on statistics. LaRussa's coaching strategy is so thorougly disected that I cannot wait to attend another game and really pay attention to things that had escaped my notice in the past.
Stories about the human side of baseball were also empowering. In this day and age of mind-numbing salaries and stories of juicing, reading about Darryl Kile and his family was heartbreaking. Reading into the emotional side of greats such as Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmunds brought a real dose of personality to an otherwise stoic game. Perhaps the best part of the book is the description of emotions and problems that pitchers have to face, be it mental or physical, dealing with the sore arm, bum ankle, or damaged ego, while describing their reactions to events during the game.
This book has special meaning to me because I've been a lifelong Cardinals fan and attended game 3 that was described in the book, flying halfway across the country to catch one of the pre-eminent matchups in MLB. The image of the Kerry Robinson walkoff home run in the 9th inning will never be erased from my mind. I'll never forget the Cubs fans sitting in the row ahead who we had been hecking with the whole game jumping up to give us high-fives. I'll never forget the fans in old Busch Stadium jumping to their feet in a deafining roar that isn't adequately portrayed in the book. A squadron of F-15 fighter jets could have flown over and no one would have noticed at that special moment.
Thank you Mr. Bissinger for a great read that brings back many good memories of the St. Louis Cardinals and the wonderful game of baseball.
It's good, but... May 15, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
It was a good book but it does have a bad aftertaste. I like the storyline and I just think it tried to take some subtle shots at Lewis' book "Moneyball" when it shouldn't have. And this goes for in general if you're going to take your shots at "Moneyball", in order for it to be effective, you have to be indirect.
Then again, I enjoyed this book. Bissinger writes really well still, hopefully he'll do it again.
Doving into LaRussa's mind. May 2, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Three Nights in August is a great, detailed account of what goes on with the Cardinals and specifically with one of the greatest managers in baseball history, Tony LaRussa. LaRussa is guarded and this book opens up his stragedies, his history in the game and the decisions that he makes. Bissinger has an amazing knack to pinpoint every detail of the game. We also take a look inside the Cardinal clubhouse and the heart-wrenching decisions that LaRussa makes everyday.
Bissinger book's 'filthy' good April 19, 2006
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was attracted to this book because I'm a Cubs fan and heard about Bissinger around the movie release of "Friday Night Lights."
"Three Nights in August" gets into the mind of Tony LaRussa, one of the greatest tacticians to ever manage the game of baseball. Bissinger makes us feel the loneliness LaRussa feels at the end of the dugout, shows how the emotional and physical demands of the game take a toll on his family, and gets into the minutia of three games to see how tiny behind-the-scenes decisions like putting on a hit-and-run or stealing another's teams signs can affect the outcome of a game.
Weaved around these games are stories of the players, like comeback kid Cal Eldred, still pitching after four arm surgeries and more than 1,000 days between wins; or the insouciant JD Drew, too confident to play with heart. There is also the tragic tale of Darryl Kile, the Cards' pitcher found dead in June 2002 before a series against the Cubs. Bissinger finishes with a short narrative about the 2004 season, the year the Cards won their division with the best record in baseball, but were swept by the Red Sox in the World Series.
"Three Nights in August" is lyrical without being overly romantic and factual without being overly analytical. Kind of like Tony LaRussa, a statistics junkie who ultimately decides with his heart.
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